A new report on the 2010 Global Powers ofRetailing published by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu outlines some of the key retailtrends for 2010. Three of its top forecasts are detailed below.


1.Most retailers have yet to make online push associal networking sites start to make an impact. Multichannel retailingcontinues to grow as more companies develop an e-commerce capability. However,online still accounts for a small percentage of sales.


On average, online sales account for 6.6% oftotal sales for the top 100 retailers in the world. "The internet is goingto pose an ever-greater challenge and opportunity for retail in the nextdecade," said Dr Ira Kalish, director of consumer business for DeloitteResearch in the United States.


"Retailers need to ensure theirmultichannel strategy is in place to capitalise on web-savvy shoppers migratingto the net. Secondly, we are starting to see retailers launch targetedmarketing campaigns online by offering special deals or discounts through theirwebsite or social networking sites."


Social networking will increase transparency inthe retail industry, giving consumers greater access to information aboutretailers, their products and pricing. "This has the potential toundermine margins by lowering prices to the level of the most desperate seller.There are great opportunities too, as new touch points open up for retailers tocommunicate with their customers."


2:Emerging market retailers set to take onestablished players. "Many emerging market retailers are rapidly becomingworld-class players in their own right," said Kalish. "Not only arethey well-equipped to compete with the global giants in their home markets,some are becoming competitive in other markets too.


The next step will be investments into developedmarkets and some of this is starting to take place. "These are typicallyspecialty players rather than food or mass merchandise retailers. The globalplaying field of retailing is becoming more level."


3:Global growth bounces back but economicrebalancing is taking place. "Countries that borrowed heavily to financeexcessive consumer spending may experience slower consumer spending growth ashouseholds struggle to de-leverage, repair tattered balance sheets andaccumulate wealth," said Kalish.


More of the economic growth of these countrieswill be driven by exports, business investment and government spending."Conversely, those countries whose growth was fuelled by exporting toborrowing countries will no longer be able to depend on such markets and willlikely shift away from export-oriented growth toward growth driven by consumerspending."


Retail spending growth in markets such as the USand UK is likely to be slower over the next decade, while a larger share of thegrowth will take place in countries with large surpluses, especially the bigemerging markets.


Originally published in New Cloth Market: February 2010